The Reverend James A. Harnish is a retired Pastor from The Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church, facilitator for the Institute of Preaching at Duke Divinity School and author of books including “Extraordinary Ministry in Ordinary Time: An Invitation to Renewal for Pastors” and “Easter Earthquake: How Resurrection Shakes Our World.”
The Reverend Dr. Elaine Heath had an amazing life journey, growing up in poverty with many hard experiences, including having to leave home and find her way when she was a junior in high school. After her children were born, she went to college, then seminary, then earned a PhD in theology. She is ordained in the United Methodist Church, served as a professor for 11 years at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, and as Dean and Professor of Missional and Pastoral Theology at Duke Divinity School, Duke University. She retired from Duke to lead Neighborhood Seminary, a non-profit that she co-founded to provide theological, practical, and spiritual formation for lay people to know how to help their neighborhoods flourish by participating with what God is doing in their neighborhoods.
She lives with her spouse at Spring Forest, a multicultural intentional community in rural North Carolina, where, she along with seven friends, tend a forest and small farm that supports immigrants who experience food insecurity, hold day retreats for small groups and individuals, and host a decentralized mission church, The Church at Spring Forest. She serves as Abbess for their residential community, and Theologian in Residence for their church.
The Reverend Sally Campbell-Evans is Pastor of Congregational Care at Hyde Park UMC in Tampa, Florida.
The Reverend Dr. Mark Teasdale is the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Teasdale joined the faculty at Garrett-Evangelical in 2008 and served as the director of the doctor of ministry program from 2009-2018. Within the faculty, he has chaired multiple committees and been a part of redesigning courses and degree programs. In the classroom, Teasdale has excelled in traditional lecture formats and in creating innovative online classroom engagement.
Teasdale also is president of the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education, associate editor of Missiology: An International Review, and served for six years as the editor of Witness: The Journal of the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education. He was also named one of the first Fellows of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism. Teasdale has published many articles and book chapters, and is the author of Methodist Evangelism, American Salvation: The Home Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1860-1920 (Pickwick, 2014), Evangelism for Non-Evangelists: Sharing the Gospel Authentically (InterVarsity Press, 2016), and Go! How to Become A Great Commission Church (Wesley’s Foundry Books, 2017). Among his research interests, Teasdale hopes to expand on his signature “evangelism equation” by publishing on the intersection of salvation and working for the public good.
Active in the church, Teasdale is an ordained elder in the Baltimore-Washington Conference of The United Methodist Church. He is a highly sought keynote speaker and has led numerous workshops on evangelism. Teasdale has also been a consultant with several local churches and denominational bodies, including the cabinet of the Methodist Church (Lower Myanmar) and the Connectional Table of the UMC. For the past several years, Teasdale has offered a popular online “Evangelism for Non-Evangelists” course through Garrett-Evangelical’s Connectional Learning program, offering both clergy and laity the opportunity grow in their understanding and practice of evangelism within their local context. He is also a faculty member for the United Methodist Course of Study programs at Garrett-Evangelical and Wesley Theological Seminary.
The Reverend Paul Christy is the Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church Hickory.
Edgardo Colón-Emeric is dean of Duke Divinity School, Irene and William McCutchen Associate Professor of Reconciliation and Theology, and director of the Center for Reconciliation.
Colón-Emeric’s work explores the intersection of Methodist and Catholic theologies, and Wesleyan and Latin American experiences. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Colón-Emeric was the first Latino to be ordained as an elder in the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church and was founding pastor of Cristo Vive UMC in Durham, N.C. He became founding director of the Hispanic House of Studies at Duke Divinity School in 2007 and joined the Divinity School faculty in 2008. Since 2010, he has served as the director of Central American Methodist Course of Study, which trains Methodist pastors who have not earned a formal Master of Divinity degree in such places as El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. He is also director of the Duke-Peru Theological Initiative, a partnership between the Methodist Church of Peru and Duke Divinity School.
He became director of the Center for Reconciliation in 2018. He serves on the United Methodist Committee on Faith and Order and on both national and international Methodist-Catholic dialogues. In October 2017, he met with Pope Francis as part of a delegation from the Methodist-Catholic Dialogue and presented the pope with a Spanish translation he created of the dialogue’s bilateral statement.
Colón-Emeric is the author of Wesley, Aquinas, and Christian Perfection: An Ecumenical Dialogue (Baylor University Press, 2009) which received the 2008 “Aquinas Dissertation Prize Winner” from the Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal at Ave Maria University and Óscar Romero’s Theological Vision: Liberation and the Transfiguration of the Poor (Notre Dame University Press, 2018), which received first place in the 2019 Catholic Press Association award for books about newly canonized saints.
Reverend Warren is the Senior Pastor of First UMC of Miami Florida appointed in July of 2015. A native Floridian, Audrey did not venture far from her hometown of Naples. Audrey holds degrees from Florida Southern College (BA), Duke Divinity School (MDiv), and Wesley Theological Seminary (Doctorate of Ministry). Audrey has a passion for outreach and mission and has used these gifts to lead Fresh Expressions movements in Florida. She has most recently co-authored Fresh Expressions with Bishop Kenneth Carter. Audrey is a dynamic preacher, educator, courageous leader and motivator while bringing diverse people together to carry out the work of Christ in the community.
Reverend Moore is an ordained elder in the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, a graduate of Greensboro College (BA Religion), Duke Divinity School (Master of Divinity), and Drew University (Doctor of Ministry Degree). Sam and his wife Marva have served numerous churches while Sam has also served on the Board of Ordained Ministry, Board of Trustees, Black Methodist for Church Renewal Committee of the WNCUMC, and has offered community service with the NAACP, and board memberships at Bennett College for Women, Pfeiffer University, and Greensboro College. Sam is from Reidsville and he and Marva share a blended family of five children, thirteen grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Matthew Sleeth, MD, a former emergency room physician and chief of the hospital medical staff, resigned from his position to teach, preach, and write about faith and health. Dr. Sleeth has spoken at more than 1,000 churches, campuses, and events, including serving as a monthly guest preacher at the Washington National Cathedral. Recognized by Newsweek as one of the nation’s most influential Christian leaders, Dr. Sleeth is the executive director of Blessed Earth and author of numerous articles and books, including Reforesting Faith and 24/6.
His most recent book, Hope Always: How to be a force for life in a culture of suicide, released in May 2021. Dr. Sleeth lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with Nancy, his wife of 40 years. Their grown children serve with their families in full-time ministry and as medical missionaries in Africa.
Dr. Sleeth will bring our Keynote Addresses and will speak on “10 Ways to Maintain Mental Health.”
Bishop Kenneth Carder was elected to the episcopacy in 1992 by the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference of the U.M. Church. At the time he was the pastor of the Church Street U.M.C. in Knoxville. He was assigned to the Nashville Episcopal Area, effective 1 September 1992. He was assigned to the Mississippi Area in 2000, where he served until retiring in 2004 and joining the faculty of Duke University Divinity School. Currently, Bishop Carder serves as the Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams, Jr. Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry Duke Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina. He is the author of five books and numerous articles.
Bishop Carder was with us in 2021 and is back in 2022 to be our Preacher for the Festival of Wisdom and Grace.
Rev. Dr. Hyung Jae Lee serves as the Smoky Mountain District Superintendent of the Western North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church. Most recently, Jae has served as pastor of Calvary UMC in Charlotte since 2013. Previously, he was pastor of Wesley UMC and Thrift UMC, both in Charlotte, and associate pastor at First UMC in Brevard. Born and raised in South Korea, Jae completed his undergraduate and master’s degrees at Hanyang University in Seoul. Coming to the US in 1997, he earned a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University and a Doctor of Ministry at Duke Divinity School.
Jae is married to Kim, a registered pharmacist in North and South Carolinas, and they have three adult children. Jae loves Western North Carolina’s mountains and enjoys walking and hiking.
Amber (RYT – 500) is a Yoga & Mindfulness Mentor whose passion is helping women reconnect with themselves through movement, meditation, and the practice of setting sacred boundaries. She is driven by her own transformation that yoga and mindfulness helped unfold when she stepped onto her mat in 2013 after being diagnosed with an auto-immune disease.
When joining her for a Slow Flow or Restorative Yoga class, you’ll be invited to explore the infinite possibilities that good self-care can provide both on and off the mat. Amber is a 500 hour certified yoga instructor who brings her silly sense of humor, creative sequencing, and everyone-is-welcome attitude into her classes for a refreshing experience from head to toe.